An 8 day vigil and retreat : Being mindful and opening our heart homes with love energy.

Good Evening Dear Family of Love,

Happy Being Thoughtful and Thankful Thursday! I hope all is well. We are one week away from Thanksgiving and that means we are now beginning to have our 8 day Vigil and retreat. There will be 8 days and a little more themes of being mindful of others and practicing random acts of kindness and radical love and hospitality. 

Tonight we will be going into silence as we always do to calm and center our bodies, minds, and spirits into being in communion with God and each other. Doing this requires going off the grid and making our holy places of calm. 

Let us begin now. Take your time after you have prepared your quiet and sacred home sanctuary.
When you return take time to breathe and begin a period of mindful quieting with The Be Stills -

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

Take time to do slow and gentle inhalations and exhalations.

Our key concept tonight is quieting our minds to become more mindful. 


Suggested Meditation music to play in the background:

In God Alone My Soul- Taize


Let us enter this holy time of sanctuary and peace!

We light one single candle, make vigil, and pray for calm in our bodies, minds, and spirits, people, family relationships, nation, and the world.

God is Spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and
in truth. John 4:24


Light of the World Phos hilaron 
(Enriching our Worship 1997)

Light of the world, in grace and beauty,
Mirror of God’s eternal face,
Transparent flame of love’s free duty,
You bring salvation to our race.
Now, as we see the lights of evening,
We raise our voice in hymns of praise;
Worthy are you of endless blessing,
Sun of our night, lamp of our days.



Kyrie Eleison
Christe Eleison
Kyrie Eleison 

Peace be still.
Peace be upon us.
Peace be with in us.
Peace be with you.
Peace.

Kyrie Eleison
Christe Eleison
Kyrie Eleison 

Peace be still.
Peace be upon us.
Peace be with in us.
Peace be with you.
Peace.

Kyrie Eleison
Christe Eleison
Kyrie Eleison 

A Smudging Prayer

Creator, our Father in heaven, we come to you as your children. We confess that we are weak and broken images of you. We pray for the forgiveness and healing you give in Jesus Christ. May his Spirit clean our spirits, minds, hearts, and bodies. We pray that your Holy Spirit will help us to worship in spirit and truth. We pray in the name of Jesus, so that his Spirit will carry our prayers to you. Amen.

The Song of Mary Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior, *
for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
and holy is your name.
You have mercy on those who fear you *
from generation to generation.
You have shown strength with your arm *
and scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones *
and lifting up the lowly.
You have filled the hungry with good things *
and sent the rich away empty.
You have come to the help of your servant Israel, *
for you have remembered your promise of mercy,
The promise made to our forebears, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Psalm 46

The God of Jacob is our stronghold

 God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,

though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble with its tumult.    

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;

God will help it when the morning dawns.

The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.    

Come, behold the works of the Lord;

see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;

he burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations,

I am exalted in the earth.”

The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.     

A Prayer attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to

be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Let us continue to pray!

 God help us to be calm and instill our hearts and heart homes with compassion, acceptance, love and mercy and may we have the necessary Love Energy to accomplish the many things you are calling us to do.

God help us to calm down and be more mindful as we go through all the hustle and bustle of  this season and beyond.

God help us to be more reverent in our devotion and worship to you at church, home, out and about and in your Cathedral of Life.

God help us to take time to care for ourselves and others, being mindful of our needs and our family members.

God help us to be attentive to all of our family members who are ill. Help us to be co-healers with you and that they may know that they are loved and cared for. May we be mindful of all of their struggles in body, mind, and spirit.

God give us courage to examine all the facts in the daily news cycle and speak truth to power.

God give us the mind of your Son Jesus Christ that we may  model our lives after Him.

God give us the courage to lovingly respond and care for your children who are the least of these.

God make us to be the peacemakers that you need us to be to help love,heal, and care for your world and may we lovingly respond to the needs of all  of our family members who are victims of war, violence, terror, and human trafficking.

God give us an awareness of those things that cause us  to be a divided  world and may we learn what it means to be truly your family and love one another. 

God we pray for all faith leaders who need the courage to learn how to be united in love, peace, and harmony and accept belief systems that may differ from their own.

God we pray for all who are seeking employment and discerning new life paths.

God we offer our prayers and thanksgivings to you for ourselves and on behalf of those who have asked us to pray and those who haven't the courage to ask for prayers. 

God we lift up these our prayers, thanksgivings, celebrations, and remembrances in the Name of your Son Jesus our redeemer, healer, reconciler, brother and friend. Amen.

Thanksgiving Prayer 

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.

We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with 
water.

We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure 
of our diseases.

We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their 
light when the sun was gone.

We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a 
beneficent eye.

Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied all 
goodness, and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.

 

Iroquois Prayer, adapted
(Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace)

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Good Night Family of Love! Have a blessed and restful night. I love you all and give thanks to God for you this night and always!


With Compassion, Acceptance, Love, and Mercy,

Sara